o DC-based JotPsych Lands $5 Million in New Seed Round
o DC-based Spear AI Raises Seed Funding
o DC-based Sayari Acquires Israeli AI Firm Mirato
o Berkshire Hathaway Reduces Stake in Reston-Based VeriSign
o Winners Named in Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence
o Briefly Noted: iConnect, IonQ
DC-based JotPsych Lands $5 Million in New Seed Round
Washington, DC – JotPsych, a DC-based developer of AI software designed to reduce documentation time for behavioral health providers, said on Tuesday it has raised $5 million in a new seed round, led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm Base10 Partners. The company, founded in 2023 by CEO Nathan Peereboom and CTO Jackson Bierfeldt, said it will use the funds to hire engineering talent, bolster research and development, and enhance its core product with new features such as integrated intake forms, automated coding and billing, prescription management and intelligent scheduling.
"When we launched JotPsych, our mandate was simple: slash the 4-plus hours a day clinicians waste on narrative paperwork," said Peereboom. "Now, with Base10's support, we're shifting into high gear to build the first AI EHR that streamlines every leg of the patient journey.”
DC-based Spear AI Raises Seed Funding
Washington, DC – Spear AI, a DC-based developer of AI technology for maritime sensors, announced that it has raised seed funding from Scare the Bear Capital and Cortical Ventures. The amount of the raise was not disclosed. The startup, founded in 2021, said it is working closely with the Department of Defense and U.S. Navy.
"Our mission has always been to close the gap between emerging AI technology and real-world mission demands," said John McGunnigle, co-founder of Spear AI. "This funding enables us to grow our technical services and engineering teams to help more partners build the data and AI capabilities they need to operate faster, safer, and smarter in the maritime domain."
DC-based Sayari Acquires Israeli AI Software Developer Mirato
Washington, DC – Sayari, the DC-based developer of a risk intelligence and visibility platform used by operators of complex commercial networks, said on Monday it has acquired Mirato, an Israeli developer of AI software used to reduce the amount of manual work in third-party risk management. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sayari said the move will allow it to create an integrated risk management tool that will help organizations more quickly and accurately identify and manage third-party risk.
"The future of risk management demands a holistic, interconnected view of every entity within an organization's ecosystem and how those entities operate alone and as part of broader networks," said Farley Mesko, the CEO of Sayari. "With Mirato, we are not just expanding our capabilities; we are building toward setting a new standard for integrated risk intelligence and creating a true system of action for our customers.”
Berkshire Hathaway Reduces Stake in Reston-Based VeriSign
Reston, Va. – A major shareholder of Reston-based VeriSign, the provider of internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, is expected to net $1.2 billion after pricing its secondary offering of company shares late Monday. Berkshire Hathaway, the public holding company headed by billionaire financier Warren Buffett, is selling 4.3 million VeriSign shares at $285 each, and will receive all the proceeds of the offering. The company is not selling any shares. Berkshire Hathaway, which has owned VeriSign stock since 2012, said the move will reduce its ownership in the company to below the 10-percent threshold that triggers additional regulatory obligations. Buffett's company owned about 13.3 million VeriSign shares at the end of March, according to regulatory filings.
Winners Named in Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence
Fairfax, Va. – Organizers of the Fairfax-based Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence on Tuesday announced their 2025 winners, honoring worldwide individuals, teams and organizations “shaping the future of technology across all industry sectors.” Multiple Stevies went to Amazon/Amazon Web Services (27), Meta (19), Cisco (14), IBM (12), Microsoft (9), Walmart (8), JPMorgan Chase (7), Salesforce (7), Cognizant (6), Google (6), Gov2Biz Inc (6), Oracle (6), Alliant (5), Apple (5), BostonGene (5), Encora (5) and Epique Realty (5). All told, the organization received more than 1,500 nominations for its second annual awards. Winners will be honored at an awards gala Sept. 16 in New York. The complete list of winners is available here.
Briefly Noted
(Washington, DC) DC-based iConnect, a developer of public sector compliance and data governance technology, has named Oran Sears as the product leader for its Public Sector division. Sears most recently served as the senior director of engineering at Relativity and earlier was the co-founder and CTO of Canopy.
(College Park, Md.) College Park-based commercial quantum computing and networking company IonQ has named Marco Pistoia as its senior vice president of industry relations. Pistoia is the former global head of applied research and quantum computing at JPMorganChase.